Snow Angel
by MurmursInTheVoid
Summary: A few honest words from a semiconscious Hei are not enough to destroy the walls that surround them, but it is enough to start the process and to form a tunnel between them.
1. Chapter 1 - Making a Snow Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black.

Snow Angel

Chapter 1 – Making a Snow Angel

Near the end of Season One

_ Darkness. No, not quite darkness... there are white fuzzy spots dancing on top of the black. Their movements are casual and erratic. Some of them are approaching me. One fills up my vision and gently comes to rest... cold. Perhaps I should blink... yes, that seems like a good idea. The act is only slightly harder than the decision. I am still cold, but now I can see. Pitch black sky, a sprinkling of stars, and drifting snowflakes illuminated by a nearby lamp fill my vision. I would never consider myself a connoisseur of art, but the contrast is simply superb. That's right, I used to enjoy gazing at the stars, before I became a contractor anyway. Wait... something about this situation is wrong. Why am I watching the snow fall? Am I lying on my back? I can't feel my anything!_

Hei slowly lifted the back of his head a few inches off of the frozen ground, and looked as far down as his eyes could strain.

_ I still have my body, that's a relief, although I think I saw some blood. Well, this isn't the first time I've collapsed injured in the snow. Now that I'm calmer, I think I can feel my limbs a bit. Yes, I am definitely moving my left hand. Not quite sure which finger, but it's something. My body is probably colder than it feels... this is not good. I may need some help. Where's Yin?_

Hei paused in his thoughts for a moment.

_ Now, why did I think of Yin before I even tried to sit up? I fail as a contractor yet again._

His blue lips parted slightly as if to form a chuckle, but no sounds escaped. The shadow of a smile did not reach his eyes.

_ I still don't want to die though. That must be the most human part of a contractor, the will to live. _

Hei's left pinkie twitched again, the only movement besides the snowfall in the otherwise still and peaceful park.

_ What am I doing, I'm lying in the snow, dying of cold, yet I'm chuckling to myself, thinking of Yin, and philosophizing. This is unlike me, I'm starting to worry myself. Really, though, if this hadn't been a surprise engagement, one of my team members would have been here by now. I wonder if it is too much to hope that Yin stays up all night spying on me? Hah. Yeah right. What would she do then, run out in the snow to find me? I don't think she CAN run. Especially when the easiest way for her to see what she is doing is by watching herself with her specter. It sure took a while to figure out that she is mostly blind, since she has that same blank look that all dolls have. How did I confirm that again? That's right, we were standing about six feet apart._

_ "Can you see me?"_

_ Yin turned her head me, her eyes as vacant as ever, but stayed silent. I tried being more specific._

_ "Can you see my face?"_

_ "No," she said, without a trace of emotion._

_ "Can you see my silhouette?"_

_ "Yes."_

_ Those were most likely the only two words she said that day._

_ That was probably the most fun I had that week, if not the entire month._

_ My life is pathetic._

_ Maybe that's why I'm finding it so difficult to find the motivation to try to save my own life right now._

Snow gathered itself on the bare branches of a nearby tree, and then a chunk broke off as though it was the ice on the side of a glacier collapsing into the ocean in fast forward, and fell a dozen feet to the snow dusted cement path below, ending it's journey without a sound. A flake descended towards Hei's face, hovered over his nose, and then glided away.

_I wonder if Yin ever attaches her specter to snowflakes... damn it, I must be losing my mind. It's time to sit up._

Hei's arms slowly dragged upward through the thin layer of snow until they were slightly above his shoulders. The soft sound of the snow crunching against his arms covered up a similarly soft sound that approached him and stopped at the same time.

_My mind is so messed up right now, I can't even move my arms the right direction. Where are you Yin..._

"Hei," a soft female voice stated, or perhaps asked, as there was no tone to indicate either way. Hei's body jerked in surprise, and then with more strength than he thought he had remaining, he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Yin!" he exclaimed, with less emotion than one would expect a startled person to show, but nonetheless more than he normally let himself display.

"Are you okay?" Yin said.

Hei looked at her for a moment, then said, "Not really."

Normally, their conversations began and ended with about the same amount of content as had just occurred. Both of them had a bottleneck between their minds and the world, with the majority of their thoughts kept locked in their head. However, at that time, Hei had two distinct advantages: he was not a doll, and he was delirious from cold and blood loss.

Yin was about to raise her arm towards Hei when he blurted out, "It's good to see you, Yin."

Her arm paused slightly raised, and she continued to stare blankly at Hei, her arm giving her an air of indecision. Then she said softly, "It's good to see you too, Hei."

Hei tried to smile, but his lips were chapped with cold and unused to smiles, and didn't seem to stretch in the right way. Had she really stayed up to the middle of the night watching him? Perhaps that sort of thing was supposed to be creepy, but it caused a strange warm feeling in his chest, and it had just saved his life. He should thank her, or compliment her, or something.

"You're a sweetheart," he told her. This time her arm came to a stop about halfway to his shoulder, and stayed there for longer than before. Hei marveled at how delicate her arm and hand looked up close. There was no way she could bear his whole weight, it was a good thing that Hei's body was mustering much more strength than it had been a few minutes ago.

After a couple seconds, Yin responded in that same quiet voice, "Thank you." Then Hei finally hauled himself to his feet and put his arm across her shoulders. She put her arm around his waist. The snowflakes were falling heavier than before; they were beautiful, just like Yin. Hei looked at her.

"Have you ever attached your specter to a snowflake?"

"No."

Hei staggered a bit, and they started walking. "It seems like it would be fun." He looked back over his shoulder at the crimson stained snow angel he had left next to some bushes, a short ways from the path, then he hung his head down, lacking the mental energy to watch where they were going. "You should try it." It was increasingly difficult for him to shape words.

He didn't remember when they reached his apartment.


	2. Chapter 2 - Awakenings

Thanks to **RayWest1982** for the lovely review, you are the first person to review my first fanfic, and on the first day of 2014 too! Awesome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black. Do you?

Snow Angel

Chapter 2 - Awakenings

As the night grew deeper, the coldness grew more bitter. Yin pushed Hei and herself forward. It would have been difficult for anyone, but it was especially hard for Yin because she spent most of her time sitting and very little of it moving with any sort of urgency. The standard program that they gave dolls did not include any sort of static drive to stay physically healthy, and no one had ever ordered her to exercise. Neither did the program include boredom, after all, who would buy a security camera that would get bored and do unnecessary things? What the program did do was make it the easiest and most natural act imaginable to ignore literally any and all emotions, thoughts, and sensations, and so Yin ignored the cold, the weight, and the metal of one of Hei's tools under his coat that was sticking into her ribs, and was able to push onwards. The constant flurries of snowflakes hitting and melting on her face and hands allowed her to keep her specter watching the path ahead. She had her specter look at Hei for a moment. He was hanging his head, and his eyes were closed as though he was unconscious, but fortunately his legs were still moving. Something about the last words he had spoken came back to her... _fun?_ The thought gradually left her mind as they trudged on through the shadows in the snow.

Hei opened his eyes, and was greeted by the familiar sight of his ceiling. He was warm and comfortable, and contented himself with examining the shadows left by the morning sun on the ceiling paint for a moment as his wits returned. _Was my bed always this snug and cozy? No, something is definitely different._ _There is a weight on my left side._ With his right arm, he grabbed the edge of his covers and raised it a bit. A blanket of hair, light gray, almost silver, with a hint of blue, was draped across his collarbone. He raised the sheets another inch. Yes, he was definitely seeing the top of Yin's head resting on the left side of his chest. Her shoulder was wedged into his armpit, and her arms were wrapped around his chest. He raised it another foot. Yes, that was most certainly Yin's soft, pale, smooth skin that curved and stretched and pressed against his bandaged side, and continued all the way to her delicate toes pressed against his ankles. If he had been acting as Li Shenshun in that moment, he would have yelled in surprise, leaped out of bed, and knelt on the floor while bowing and apologizing profusely. Yin exhaled serenely, her breath brushing across the skin over his heart, and he lowered the blanket. _Not only did she get me home safely, but she saved me from hypothermia. Is this normal doll behavior?_ He shook his head. _No, she has subtly yet consistently demonstrated __thought and __will beyond that of a __normal __minimally programmed doll._ An image rose in his mind, of her making a half-smile by pushing her cheek with her finger. She was more than just a doll. She had decided to stay with him...

This time, Hei regained consciousness with his usual swiftness. It was close to noon, and Yin was still pressed against him, but her shallow breathing indicated that she was awake. "Yin," Hei murmured. She lifted her head and looked towards the side of his face. "How long have you been awake?'

"I don't know," she said. Hei suspected that she had been lying awake doing nothing for several hours, and he was right. The seconds dragged on, her staying still, and him just looking at her face. There was something about her... something that right now was making an uncomfortable, warm, twisty sensation in his gut. He didn't like it. Yin's neck was getting tired so she was about to lay it back down when Hei's stomach made a growl that nearly reverberated the entire bed frame.

_Oh, I was just hungry, _thought Hei. He sat up stiffly, his side aching, and Yin pulled away and sat on the edge of the bed with her back to him. He looked over; she was very skinny and pale, her ribs were easily visible. There was a deep bluish purple splotch between two of them, he guessed it was from the hilt of his knife from when she had been supporting him last night. He turned away and looked at his waist. The wrappings had soaked up quite a bit of blood, he would have to change them soon. He looked at the bed; it had a large red splotch in the middle, fringed with yellow. He sighed silently and hauled himself to his feet, feeling a bit lightheaded. "I'm going to make breakfast," he told Yin, and left the room.

Forty three bowls of omelet rice later, Hei sat watching Yin pick at the remaining half of her first plate. He knew that most people ate less than him, but this couldn't be normal. She definitely was not getting enough nutrition.

"Yin," he said.

She paused.

"You're too skinny."

She didn't move.

Hei sighed. He had probably made her feel bad. The reason Li Shenshun was socially awkward was because Hei often didn't know what to say. For so long, he had always been able to rely on violence, but he wanted to keep Yin safe and away from that. Just seeing her bruised made him feel bad. He tried to remember what he had learned from watching televisions in restaurants.

He continued. "I don't like seeing you unhealthy, you should eat and exercise more." He felt comfortable enough to keep voicing his thoughts, which would not have happened with the company of anyone else. "I don't think I've ever been parters with anyone as skinny as you. Soldiers and contractors usually keep very fit."

Yin looked at him, her head tilted slightly. Then she said softly, "You're right. You were heavy." Hei was startled, he hadn't even been thinking about last night. She used the finger from her empty hand to push up one corner of her mouth. A laugh escaped Hei's lips, and to his surprise, he kept talking. It was a strange feeling, to want to talk to someone. It was as though the floodgates that had started to open last night were now thrown wide.

"So Yin, do you like the candies I give you at your tobacco stand? I never thought to ask."

Yin nodded and paused her slow chewing to make another half smile. Hei smiled back, even though she wasn't touching any water.

"That's good. Also, I was wondering, where do you live? I only see you at the stand and at our meeting places. Where do you sleep?"

Yin swallowed, and Hei glanced at her neck. "The tobacco stand," she said with her soft voice.

"You sleep there!?"

"Yes."

For some reason, that made Hei angry, and anger was an emotion that was familiar and comfortable to him. He rose halfway from his seat. "What is the Syndicate thinking, making someone sleep in a tiny run-down shack like that!" Then, quietly, he echoed the words that Gai had spoken to him that day, "It's not right to treat anyone anywhere like some doll..."

He sat down again, leaned forward in his seat with his elbows on the table, and clasped his hands together looking pensive. Yin put a finger in her glass of water to look at him briefly, and then almost inaudibly said, "Thank you, Hei."

Hei reached a conclusion. "I'll ask my landlord if you can live here with me."

Yin's hand jerked, knocking her glass over and spilling water across the table. Hei stared at her; he had never seen her so openly startled, even though her expression looked as calm as ever. Now that he thought about it, moving in with someone was a pretty big deal, especially someone of the opposite sex. The more he reflected on it, the more it sounded like some romantic thing, like a girlfriend moving in with her boyfriend. That was the perfect explanation to give to the landlady!

"I'll tell the landlady that you're my girlfriend."

Yin stayed stone still, except for her mouth which parted slightly. Seeing Yin's extremely understated version of slack-jawed amazement, Hei couldn't help but laugh. Yin closed her mouth, pulled back her arm, and sat up straighter as Hei continued to chuckle. It felt remarkably good to laugh honestly. "Is that okay with you, Yin?" he asked her. She nodded wordlessly. An odd sense of contentment rose within Hei, and the warm twisty feeling returned to his belly, but it no longer felt uncomfortable. He wondered if this was what happiness felt like. Unknown to him, in a place hidden deep within her heart and soul, Yin was experiencing the exact same sensation.

The spilled water started dripping off of the table and plopping on the floor. "Oh," said Hei, "I guess I'll get a rag."


	3. Chapter 3 - Larger Issues

Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black. If you do, please be gentle with me.

Snow Angel

Chapter 3 – Larger Issues

Yin sat stone still, expressionless, as Hei wiped the table and carried his stacks of plates to the sink, yet inside her, her mind was working faster and clearer than it ever had since she was a child, since she became a doll. Hei... that man could spark emotions within her, unlike anyone else, and those sparks had finally caught hold and turned into a flame which she was desperately trying to prevent from going out. It was those words, said less than a minute ago, which had shocked her into this state of clarity. Her thoughts became a mantra... _Hei said we were partners... he said we should live together... he wants to be with me... I'm not alone..._

None of it showed on her face.

Hei reseated himself across from her. The tingly warmth had yet to go away, and he didn't really want it to anymore. He watched as she resumed her slow and deliberate method of eating. Her fork slowly descended, at such a snail-like pace that he didn't hear a sound when it finally hit the plate. Then she gradually moved it to the side, until it sunk into a minuscule piece of egg, and was painstakingly raised in a graceful arc through the air... her small mouth opened barely a centimeter, the yellow chunk of egg gently brushing between her delicate pink lips as they closed around it, trapping it inside... the prongs of the fork sliding out, the chrome finish shining brighter from the moisture of her saliva...

The black haired contractor broke out of his reverie. _What the hell am I looking at? The rate at which she is eating is just absurdly slow, it's mesmerizing me. How can she still have half of her first plate remaining, it's ridiculous! I must eat at least twenty times faster than her! No wait, my plates were heaped twice as high as hers, so forty times faster!_

Hei breathed deeply, relaxing. He would just look at her like he normally did when they would wait for Huang to show up where they met at the playground. Her hair was such an unusual color, he couldn't figure out what to name it. He could call it silvery white, or perhaps just light gray, but gray didn't seem adequate to describe it's brightness. It was a beautiful sort of gray, not at all dead gray like concrete. It seemed like there was just a vague hint of blue within the silver, he could see it in the lock that escaped from her ponytail and curved around her ear to touch the smooth pale skin of her neck... he imagined that skin continuing past the neckline of her fancy black and purple dress, exposing the angelic body which has been naked against him less than an hour ago...

This time Hei physically recoiled, rocking back in his seat. _Her epidermis is hypnotizing me! It's like her skin has a contractor power to cause amorous enchantment through visual contact! Something is wrong with me, why has this never happened before? Do I still have hypothermia? No, no, am I going crazy?!_

Hei struggled to maintain maintain composure through this mini panic attack, and settled his flickering eyes on the ceiling. _Yes, the ceiling is good. Don't worry, think dark, depressing thoughts and you will go back to normal._ _Relax, Hei. Relax._

"Hei," Yin said softly.

Hei immediately focused on her, snapping out of the bizarre episode. Yin's words always seemed to have more weight, since she spoke so few of them. He felt much calmer. "Yes?"

Yin was worried, the man across from her had been breathing irregularly for a couple minutes.

"Are you hurting?"

"No, actually, I pretty much forgot about my injury," Hei responded, then muttered to himself under his breath, "How the hell could I forget that I'm wounded..."

Yin breathed in. She knew that Hei was the reason she was feeling so alive right now, and she knew that talking to him, interacting with him, only seemed to give her more strength. The emotion she was feeling, worry, felt raw and fresh, and yet dull, blunted. She realized that she had often felt worried about Hei, which was why she had looked for him last night in the first place; it was just, now she recognized the feeling, now she knew its name. She was also... glad, that his injury wasn't bothering him, but she was still worried.

"How did you get hurt, Hei?"

Hei's expression hardened as he thought back.

Hei trudged through the snow on the way back from his part time job at a ramen stand, his breath coming out as puffs of fog. He wasn't finding any leads, but it was a minor mission, just given to keep him occupied until something major came in, so he didn't care. The important thing was that he got a discount on the ramen, and he had just finished eating. He idly wondered how the Syndicate kept getting him all these part time jobs; did they use threats? Bribes? Jedi mind tricks? Anything seemed possible.

A few minutes later he entered a poorly lit park near his apartment. The sun had probably set by now, although it was impossible to tell through the thick clouds covering the sky, their undersides dimly lit by the light of the city. Hei always got a little more tense when he walked through this area at night; it was usually deserted, and the thick trees bordering the winding path would provide perfect cover for an ambush. Of course, he was ready for a worst case scenario. He was always ready. He already had one of his special-made lightweight knives slipped in his belt, and his bulletproof black trench coat folded in a compact square in his left pocket. As he rounded a bend in the path, he saw two men walking towards him further up the path. They were both Caucasians with brown hair, and seemed to be conversing in English. The taller one's voice trailed off when he saw Hei, and the shorter one noticed him immediately after. Hei ignored their attention, not making eye contact, and casually put his hands in his pockets, gripping his folded black coat by the corner. The two brown haired men drew to a stop, and their expressionless eyes turned to follow him as he walked between them.

He was a few steps past them when he heard a voice behind him mutter, "That's him."

Hei immediately whipped the black coat out of his pocket so it unfolded in the air in front of him, and then bent his right leg, pivoting on it and spinning into a kick with his left. Hei's heel collided with the ear of one of the men who had just started to charge him, knocking the man off balance and making him tumble to the side. Hei's eyes widened as he saw the second attacker charging directly behind where the first had been, closing in before the contractor had any time to react, his leg still extended from the kick, and his arms outstretched for balance. He awkwardly twisted his torso to the side as his opponent skidded to a halt and stabbed, but it was no good, he couldn't dodge completely. As the knife bit into his wool jacket, Hei's pupils glowed red. The knife sliced a long gash in his side, but at the same time, electricity raced up the blade and into the attacker's hand. The brown haired man gave out a shout in surprise, his spasming fingers releasing the knife's hilt, and jumped back. Hei managed to turn his momentum into a graceful spin despite the pain, pulling on his bulletproof coat and finishing in a prepared crouch.

The men who had just attacked Hei pulled back to regroup. The taller man was holding his ear, and a small stream of blood was trickling down his jaw. The shorter man was shaking his arm, and they both were eying Hei warily. Hei drew himself up smoothly, his black coat covering him and hiding his wound. The taller started speaking to the other in English. Hei strained his ears to catch what they were saying; they sounded American.

The taller man said calmly, "Why did you try to stab him? We were supposed to catch him alive."

"Hah," the shorter replied, "If the Black Reaper is everything they say he is, then he could handle it. And he did handle it. This is definitely him."

"What if it wasn't him?" the other man growled.

"Calm down Charlie, I wasn't aiming for anything vital. Besides, look, the guy doesn't even look like he has a scratch on him."

Hei would have attacked, but they were both watching him and clearly prepared, not a trace of a distraction despite their conversation. Their speed and coordination had been exceptional as well. They were professionals.

The tall one, Charlie, sighed. "I swear, you need to stop making heat of the moment decisions. You watch too much Naruto, man."

"Oh come on! That has nothing to do with this! Besides, I think his power is electricity, when I got too close he shocked me, through the hilt of my weapon, I might add. My whole arm is numb. If I had gone for a punch, I might be dead right now. Just admit it, we're outmatched."

Hei narrowed his eyes. _They think that I'm relatively uninjured, good, __but they want to capture me alive? Plus don't seem to be contractors, what's going on..._

The man called Charlie cleared his throat, and started speaking to Hei in a professional tone using nearly fluent Japanese. "Kuro Shinigami, we attacked you because our boss wanted to converse with you directly, and contractors are known to be easier to deal with when they are at a disadvantage. However, I do not believe we can capture you at this time, so I will instead inform you of what our organization wants to deal with you about."

Charlie continued to speak, and Hei barely managed to listen to him. His wound was stinging, and he was losing a lot of blood, he could feel the warmth of it all the way to his knee already. Fortunately his coat was long enough to cover the blood stain completely.

Charlie wrapped up quickly. He seemed slightly unnerved with Hei's silent staring. "Our organization will make peaceful contact with you within a week, at a time when you are alone. We will have multiple agents nearby in case you act violently. However, we hope for a favorable response." The two men cautiously walked away, leaving Hei alone as snow started to fall. Once they were out of sight, he turned and started to stagger towards his apartment.

Hei met Yin's eyes. "Somebody wants me, and they know my face."

Yin tilted her head inquisitively. He briefly imagined a question mark appearing above her head, then he glanced away. Yin waited for him patiently, and after a moment, he continued, leaning forward on the table and lowering his voice. "A group... I don't know who, but they are taking measures against the Syndicate." He lowered his tone even further – if the Syndicate happened to be spying on him at this moment, there was a good chance that they would pursue him for the rest of his life – and it would be a significantly shorter life as well. "They want me... to help them bring the Syndicate down."


End file.
